: Community reports indicate that the official multiplayer matchmaking hasn't worked reliably for several years.
Since official servers are often down, players have found community-driven workarounds to bypass the facilitator or fix launch crashes. 1. Disable Internet Connection (Main Fix) Feed And Grow Fish Connecting To Facilitator
Many modern PCs experience crashes due to an OpenSSL bug in older games. Adding a specific launch command in the Steam Library can resolve this: Connecting to Facilitator... please wait :: Feed and Grow : Community reports indicate that the official multiplayer
If you are trying to play single-player but the game is stuck "Connecting to Facilitator," temporarily before launching can force the game to bypass the online check and load the main menu. You can re-enable your internet once the game has successfully loaded. 2. Apply the OpenSSL Launch Command Disable Internet Connection (Main Fix) Many modern PCs